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An extraordinary heat wave is assailing the world's oceans with an intensity that is surprising climate researchers. Environmental physicist Nicolas Gruber provides some context. Record temperatures in the Mediterranean. Huge heat wave in the North Atlantic. The temperature of the oceans at an all-time high.

Forests renew themselves naturally. There has been very little research into how exactly this happens - until now. Researchers at ETH Zurich and WSL have set themselves the task of solving this puzzle. Tariche Bois Banal Natural Forest Reserve, Switzerland (Photograph: Markus Bolliger) Yannek Käber, a doctoral candidate in the Professorship of Forest Ecology at ETH Zurich, and his colleagues from ETH and WSL together with the European Forest Research Initiative (EuFoRIa, www.euforia-project.org), have taken a look at regeneration in protected European forests for the first time.

Forests renew themselves naturally. There has been very little research into how exactly this happens - until now. Researchers at ETH Zurich and WSL have set themselves the task of solving this puzzle. In brief Competition between trees is one of the driving forces in the natural regeneration of forests.

When the children's creativity meets scientific expertise, new ideas are born - for example, about what the sustainable world of tomorrow might look like.

As part of the international CLOUD project at the nuclear research centre CERN, researchers at PSI have identified so-called sesquiterpenes - gaseous hydrocarbons that are released by plants - as being a major factor in cloud formation. This finding could reduce uncertainties in climate models and help make more accurate predictions.

A study by researchers found that Greta Thunberg’s Fridays for Future climate strikes have influenced the environmental behavior of Swiss residents. Climate activist Greta Thunberg made the headlines in September 2019 with her Fridays for Future climate strikes, in which some 4 million students in 150 countries protested to demand action on climate change.

An EPFL study carried out in Vaud Canton has shed light on the factors that can prompt people to buy solar panels. It found that having neighbors with solar panels plays a significant role, alongside more well-known influences, such as our social circle. If you're a homeowner, have a high-level job, and have friends or family members with solar panels, chances are that you've got them, too.

Researchers make theoretical breakthrough in thermoelectric material to better harness waste heat for sustainable energy. Around 70% of the energy we use in everyday life is wasted in the form of heat, produced by engines, factories, and electrical devices. However, researchers from EPFL's School of Engineering have made a significant theoretical step forward that could boost sustainable energy generation.

For the first time, researchers combined human and ecological factors to analyse the global scale of non-native tree species invasions. Human activity in hotspots of global trade, such as maritime ports, is linked to an increased likelihood of non-native tree species invasions. However, a high diversity of native tree species can help to curb the intensity of such invasions.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have demonstrated the use of a specially coated metal mesh to harvest water from fog and simultaneously remove pollutants. People living in dry but foggy areas should benefit from this technology. In countries such as Peru, Bolivia and Chile, it's not uncommon for people who live in foggy areas to hang up nets to catch droplets of water.

Even though the summer is still in progress - for many birds the migration to the African winter quarters has already begun. Among them is the wheatear, which breeds in mountainous areas. On its 4500-kilometer journey, which takes about 30 days, the small bird can climb to an altitude of more than 5000 meters.

With methods of so-called geoengineering, the climate could theoretically be artificially influenced and cooled. Bernese researchers have now investigated whether it would be possible to prevent the melting of the West Antarctic ice sheet by artificially "dimming the sun". The results show that artificial influence does not work without decarbonization and entails high risks.

EPFL engineers propose a system-wide integration solution for carbon capturing and mineralisation in the cement production, steel manufacturing, and waste incineration sectors. EPFL engineers in Sion, Switzerland have demonstrated the potential for achieving net-zero and net-negative emissions in essential industrial sectors through the integration of carbon capture and mineralization directly into the industrial processes themselves.

The Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL is participating in a pan-European project to monitor and evaluate the impact of climate change on forests. The aim is to create a basis for decision-making in practical forest management on a European and regional level. The first calls for grants are now being launched, enabling researchers outside the FORWARDS consortium to contribute to the project's goal.

Switzerland has a new breeding bird: the cattle egret has nested on Swiss soil for the first time, the culmination of a long evolutionary process.

In addition to heat and drought, various invasive beetles and other harmful organisms caused problems in the forest in 2022. Many of the observed insects and fungi are new to Switzerland, as the Swiss Forest Protection Competence Center of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research reports in its forest protection overview .

A team led by researchers from ETH Zurich and WSL advances to the finals of the XPRIZE Rainforest Competition. The international competition aims to promote the development of autonomous technologies for collecting data on biodiversity. The XPRIZE Rainforest Competition is an international contest offering the winning team generous prize money of five million US dollars.

Alexander von Humboldt was a pioneer of climate research. On his voyages to America (1799-1804) and Asia (1829), he conducted meteorological measurements that he used to develop a modern, holistic model of the Earth's climate.

SLF biologists are retracing two expeditions undertaken 20 and 90 years ago. Like their predecessors, they will be recording the plant populations they come across, and analysing how these have changed over recent decades. They expect this to provide new insights into the effects of climate change. Biologists Christian Rixen and Andreas Gygax from the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF) set off for Greenland on 25 July, following in the footsteps of two earlier scientists.